The Third Night's Reprobation
by Rhathymia
Summary: Trapped as a prisoner of the Knights, Integra has nothing to do but scrutinize hers and Alucard's relationship. At least he gave her time to think about it. AxI. Rated to be safe.
1. The First Night's Tête à Tête

"We do not belong anyplace, do we?" The woman, Integra Wingates Hellsing, sighed. Cigar to her lips, she couldn't help but feel melancholy. She did her best, and she was the best at what she did, and yet the Knights of the Round Table couldn't seem to realize that. They had saved all of England, and perhaps the world at large, and yet, the only thing the knights could come up with was anger at their not having acted sooner. It was infuriating, that should imprison her when she had saved them all.

"We are simply mismatched to society." She mused half to her self, half to her companion.

Alucard was sitting in her barred window, watching the cars drive by. Living their little lives, unaware and weak kneed about everything occult. Humans. They were disgusting. Except, he thought as he turned his eyes to his Master, weakness was not a trait common to every human. There were a handful that had superior hold over themselves and those around them. The moonlight falling in through the window lit up her blue eyes, making them seem so to glow in the darkness.

"Only the truly great do not fit in, if that is what you mean. And don't I belong to you, as if I were nothing but a handgun?"

Her eyes turned to him as he continued to stare, glaring though the puffs of cigar smoke. "No," she intoned. "Not quite like a handgun."

His eyebrows rose. "Really? What then? Am I simply a servant?"

She was silent. He pressed harder, suddenly intent on hearing for himself what she viewed him as. She had her lips pressed together, refusing to answer.

"If not a servant, then what? A dog?"

She spoke almost too quickly. "Yes. A dog. One that must be kept on a short chain."

He laughed aloud. "I don't think so. I don't think you want to realize what I've become to you." She was beautiful, he mused, when she glared at him, when she let her fast bound anger rise and create those spots of red on her cheeks, below each eye. But then she sighed, and the tenseness went out of her muscles and she relaxed into the chair.

"You know, Alucard," she paused, watching as his eyebrows furrowed at the casual mention of his name. Continuing, "Stockholm syndrome is quite common among those who have been entrapped by another. Understand that I find it hard to believe you." She tossed her cigar down. It wasn't the brand she liked anyway. At least that guard had been nice enough to offer one. But he was gone now.

"Then my respect for you is your fault?"

She paused en route to the small wardrobe they had given her, containing only a pair of pajamas and fresh underclothes.. Her hair shone brilliantly as she whirled around, mouth open, ready to ream him out, but paused. He had let his coat drop to the floor, along with his hat and goggles. Now he was simply clad in a dark suit, the lace frills around his neck pure white, almost the same hue as his skin. Without the orange tinted goggles covering his eyes, they were far more intense than Integra had remembered. And they held more feeling than she had noticed before. So, with a snort of derision, she turned and opened her wardrobe drawers, pulling out what they had allowed her, men's button down shirt, and long sweatpants. She didn't want him to see her ruffled.

His laugh echoed around the room. "Are you going to change in front of me?" He swung his legs from the ledge to let them hang, fully facing her. The dark amusement in his eyes was quickly arrested at her next words.

"It doesn't matter to me. You have known me my entire life. And I have a feeling you don't plan on leaving for a while."

The casual brush off that she gave him… he would have killed anyone else if they had done so. No one swept him to the side as if he was a mere fledgling. No one. Not even her. With preternatural speed he was standing a foot behind her, watching her spine flex as she pulled her shirt up. She was a study in femininity. Slim, with long, lithe muscles lining her back, curling around her torso, resting along her ribs, with the veins –pulsing with that sweet, sweet, Hellsing blood-weaving in and out of the muscles… yes, a study in human femininity. She pulled the shirt over her head, and her white blonde hair fell against her back, sending a wave of human fragrance towards him. As if he couldn't already smell her, smell her nervousness at him watching, though she tried to hide it, the acrid scent of cigars permeating her skin, the smell that was Integra Wingates Hellsing and no one else.

As she bent to retrieve her pajama shirt, he wrapped his arms around her waist, effectively halting her. He heart skipped a beat; he felt it against his chest, hear it echo a wet bloody sound in the silence.

Then, "Alucard. Release me." Her voice tinged with ice, and with a yawning nervousness.

He let his cheek rest against her soft, soft, hair, and pulled her body flush against his, leaving no space between them. His chest was icy cold through his dress shirts against her bare back, and under his wandering hands her muscles tensed and eased. She swallowed heavily.

"Alucard…" This time it was a warning.

"My master, you forget. I may be a monster, but I am still a man, and you are still a woman, though you are a knight." She let out a soft breath as he pressed his tongue against the side of her neck. She was nervous, sweat creating a salty sheen on her skin. Fangs scraped along her skin, but before she could order him away he drew back, sighing.

"Misfits belong to each other, Countess, and we are misfit to everything. I, the chained beast living through the centuries, you the iron maiden, in a time where virginity is relative." He laughed again, and turned her around in his arms. "But iron does not hurt vampires, does it? Too bad you aren't the silver maiden."

She refused to look at him, even when his face loomed within inches of her own. She squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't stand it. Being embraced like this, like they were lovers! She froze as his icy cold lips pressed softly against one eyelid, then the other, his hair brushing her face, tickling as he pulled away.

Eyes unreadable, he looked down his nose at her, the human woman that so enthralled him.

"You know what I want, Integra. Think about it."

He moved away from her, gathered his jacket to himself, and sunk through a shadow, eyes never leaving her, mouth twisted in a thoughtful frown.

When she could no longer sense him, she sunk to the ground, clutching her shirt to her chest, panting for air, as if she had been under water for years.


	2. The Second Night's Circles

He didn't come back the next night.

Integra sighed. She didn't know why she wanted him back. He would simply hint again at turning her into an undead, hint that maybe he might love her. But she knew he couldn't love her. He wouldn't ever be the loving kind boyfriend/knight she had thought him to be, when her father told her that her savoir was in the dungeons. Instead of a knight, she had gotten a demon.

A very protective, infuriatingly loyal, demon. Over the years he had, much like her visions of a knight, kept her safe. And now the monster offered freedom as the Knights kept her trapped. She couldn't have ever dreamed that it would come to this.

"_You know what I want, Integra. Think about it." _His words echoed in her mind.

"Alright, Integra. Think."

She had to treat this like it was a puzzle, one about a girl in her situation, not as it was herself, because if she thought of it as herself… it would drive her insane.

The girl was ensnared for a wrongdoing she didn't commit, and she was infuriated about this.

The girl had a very handsome undead wanting her to join him for forever.

But the girl didn't know how enthralled this undead was. He could tire of her in a few years.

And she would be as alone as she was now. As she had been most of her life.

The girl trusted the undead implicitly though, and even thought of betrayal hurt her, just like when…

When she had thought Alucard dead. Screw thinking in the third person. She had only ever felt that much pain when her father died, and when she had thought Incognito had killed Alucard. The panic had set in and she had screamed at her servant, wanting any sign that he could possibly be alive. Bloody hell. She was attached to the damned creature.

And he was attached to her. It wasn't love. Respect, maybe, but not love. Admiration. She was brave and strong, and she pushed her instincts away in favor of icy control. It attracted him, that she was strong, that she didn't give in to his first offers and teases. That she rebuffed. That she refused.

That she didn't play his games.

That she killed as she needed; though he was the one that committed the acts, she pulled the trigger. Hers was the will that drove him.

He respected her and that was that. Maybe viewed her as a comrade in arms. He would never love.

She sighed again, wondering why that so bothered her. A small voice in the back of her taunted her.

You've grown attached to him. You try to view him as a man. He's only a monster though, and deep down, you know he only strives for power. That's what just breaks your heart, isn't it? That you're starting to love him, but that he could never love you back. It's the sorrow of being a vampire, one such as him.

She gritted her teeth. Her eyes were growing hot and clouded, but she pushed back the tears. She refused to cry. Not here, not now. She simply had to weigh the pros and cons.

Pros, she would be immortal, powerful, able to rule with an iron fist, and could avenge her honor stolen by the knights.

Cons, she would no longer be human, and therefore could not carry on the Hellsing name.

But if she was forever alive, she could make sure that Hellsing never was corrupted by anyone like her uncle. The company would always stay pure.

But being run by a member of the species it set out to kill would be somewhat of a mood depressant for her troops. "Yes, we kill vampires, except when we don't." She couldn't afford to pick and choose. Either all vampires had to be eliminated or none.

And if all vampires were eliminated, Alucard would, eventually, have to be killed as well. Her heart clenched. That was not something she thought she could handle. The creature had always protected her and… to kill him in return or nothing but service, it was dishonorable. It had nothing to do with personal feeling; it was simply not how the Hellsing family operated.

Never mind that she would have refused to compromise with any other undead.

She ran a hand through her hair. This circular thinking of honor and duty was only giving her a headache. It seemed a conundrum. She could not give in to Alucard, because it would go against her duty, but it would go against her duty to him if she ended up killing him.

"What duty to him? Integra…. You are not making sense." She sighed to herself. Now the stress was affecting her; she was talking to her self.

"I suppose that I mean that I feel I have a duty to him, because he has protected me, even though he was forced to. What would happen if I were to take the seals off? He would attack, as any creature like him would. He is above all a monster."

Then, quieter. "But I would love him, if he could be a man."

But she had no illusions about it; it was not a lovey-dovey take a walk in the park and eat each other's ice cream. Eugh. She could never stand that. It was perhaps love born out of respect. He was a strong, intelligent being, as was she, and they were drawn together because they both had strength born from pain.

Would being with him for eternity really be that bad? He strove to make her strong, independent, intelligent, and he called her on her mistakes. He was infuriating, but the best conversationalist she had aside from Walter.

And she was thinking in circles again.

She slumped into her cot. The stone wall was cool against her arm, like his flesh. She pulled her arms into herself at that thought, hugged around her middle. Some decision had been reached, whether she had realized or not, and as she closed her eyes to sleep, she whispered softly in the dark of the cell.

"I would love him, if he were a man, or if I were a monster."

……………

Alucard, leaning against the wall in his own dungeon, heard her thoughts and smiled.

"Oh, Integra."


	3. The Third Night's Reprobation

Integra had just returned from a meeting to discuss her fate. She was bound, so to speak, as if the cloth bonds of her wrists would do any good. It was more of a formality, as they had let her dress in a suit, rather than the normal prison gear.

They had made a decision regarding her fate. It was the same one she would have made if she had been in their shoes, the only real decision able to be made.

She was to be killed.

It didn't make acknowledging it any easier though.

But she still understood. They couldn't explain to the public that the reason the flag had been up was not because the Queen was there, but because they were laying a trap for an immortal, powerful being that was trying to destroy England. And there was no other excuse for her company to be attacking an area where the Queen was. It was treason.

It was unforgivable.

They could not pardon her. It would raise too many questions.

They had to kill her. It was the only choice. A part of her understood and agreed. She would become a martyr. She would go down in history as a treasonous dog, but the few that knew her would call her a hero.

She knew that.

But that didn't mean she had to like it.

But she had a plan.

"Just as I knew you would, my Master." A sharp intake of breath and quickened heartbeat were the only signs that she was surprised by her servant's entrance. Alucard stood behind her, the lapels of his jacket brushing lightly against her shoulder blades, his breath soft against her ear as he leaned forward.

"You've made your decision, haven't you, oh Countess, my Countess?"

Integra had indeed decided. She was to be killed anyway. There was nothing left for her.

"How daring, Alucard." She leaned slightly into him and at the acceptance, he wrapped his longs arms around her and rested his cheek against the top of her head, burying his nose in her hair. She sighed. The soft exhalation touched something deep inside him, some feeling he had thought to be forgotten.

He wanted to protect her, to make her invincible, not just because he was her servant, but because he wanted it, truly wanted it.

"It is not Stockholm syndrome, you know."

"I know."

"Excellent. Then you…."

"Yes."

He gently turned her around, and she was struck with a sense of deja-vu, except this time she was willing, and no longer indecisive. She knew what she wanted.

"I can sense the change in you. You no longer shy away from my touch. I wonder…" There was humor in his tone, and when she glanced at him questioningly, her head tilted up, long neck exposed, he bent his head and pressed his lips to her pulse. She relaxed in his hold, eyes fluttering, and he chuckled against her skin.

"You know, Integra, I cannot do this act unless you release my bindings."

She nodded, dizzy, opened her mouth. "Alucard, thee I do re-"

"Ms. Hellsing!" There was a rapid knock on her cell door. "Ms. Hellsing, I've got your dinner. Would you like it?"

Alucard had tensed at the intrusion, but relaxed and melted into the shadows with a nod towards the door. Pursing her lips, she called out, "Yes, of course. Did you bring wine, as I requested?"

There was a clank as a key was turned, and a balding man in his late forties poked his head inside the door. "Yeah. I managed to smuggle some in." He laughed and set a tray on her table. There was a plate of steaming vegetables and a thick hunk of steak, with a tumbler of wine next to it.

"Have a good night, Miss." She nodded her thanks as he left.

And then Alucard was there again, holding the glass of wine. "You won't have need of these kinds of things any more Integra."

She smiled and nodded. "I know." She sighed as she sat on the bed, drawing a leg up to her chest, and began again, where she had been before she was interrupted. "Alucard, thee I do release, as it is my God given right as the heir of the Hellsing organization. I see fit that you are freed from this bloodline, and freed from your duty." She paused, then, "Amen."

A wide smirk spread over his face, and he clenched the wine glass hard enough for it to shatter in his hand. The red wine dripped from his white glove as if it were blood, and she looked on, with a momentary panic that was enhanced when he crossed the room to stand in front of her.

"That really was foolish of you to do, Integra. I could kill you now, and continue about conquering Europe, as I had started to so long ago. Vlad the Impaler." He cackled, eyes alight with power that he hadn't been able to access for centuries. Integra's spike of fear, the sudden quickness of breath, they struck at him, clear and unmuddled, as if he had done them himself. With a sudden scowl he ripped his gloves off, ripped the binding circcles off, leaving only pale skin on his long, graceful hands. The goggles followed, and he turned his crimson eyes towards Integra.

He could feel the fear permeating her mind, but she simply looked at him through lowered lashes and smiled. "You bluff, Alucard."

His intensity turned to amusement. "Do I now?"

She snorted and turned her head. "You gloat after you kill someone, not before. You may profess to know me, but I also know you. You would not harm me." He tiled his head and slowly, thoughtfully, walked towards her. He paused, then knelt in front of her, eyes downcast.

"You do know me, far better than I had anticipated you ever would." He looked up, met her eyes, and for once there was something almost human, almost vulnerable in his eyes. His icy hand brushed against her jaw, her cheek, then smoothed her hair back. He sighed. "Shall we begin then? It is far better that I be your murderer than they."

She nodded curtly, and let her chin rise, revealing a slim neck. He chuckled. "Now, Integra, no need to be so mechanical. This isn't harsh death, an end to everything. This is a soft death, a continuation. It is done, not out of hate, but love, and you therefore have no reason to fear." He moved the bed, and gathering her to his chest, pressed his lips against her forehead.

There was a puff of her warm breath against his neck as she sighed. "Alright, then. Go ahead."

She shivered as his chest rumbled in a laugh. He was right; he may have been a monster, but he was also very much a man. Delicately, he loosened the cravat around her neck, unbuttoned the first three buttons on her dress shirt, and, for the second time that night, pressed his lips to her pulse. His tongue ran along the thick vein of blood, and before she could think to do anything, he let his fangs sink into her flesh. There was a slight murmur of protest before she was caught up in the feeling.

He cradled her gently, far more so than she would have imagined him doing, sucking the blood, drop by drop, from her veins. Her vision was darkening rapidly, muscles twitching uncontrollably. She knew she was in the throes of death, and wondered vaguely if Alucard had indeed been lying. This could be his revenge…

Her whisper fell flat in the close air of her cell. "Alu…card…"

………………..

Two days later the newspapers were sold out. Headlines all read the same.

"Don't you have any newspapers?"

"No, I'm sorry." The seller shrugged. "We're all out."

They had sold like hotcakes, because in the newspapers one could find out what had happened to the treasonous prisoner, Integra Wingates Hellsing. Her body had been found, lifeless, bloodless, lying on the floor of her cell the morning after her trial. How had a vampire gotten in there? Furthermore, how could she have died like that? Why hadn't her servant saved her? These were all questions on the tongues of the knights.

The only probable conclusion they could come to, with the help of her butler, was that Alucard had somehow broken his binding, perhaps weakened by his release of power in that last battle. In anger at his servitude, he had drained the woman master of her blood, revenge on the bloodline he hated. That was the headline on the papers.

"Treason Stopped by Bloodlust"

It was ironic that the one who had fought the vampires with all her strength had been done in by one of her own. Some were fearful, other happy that treasonous woman had died in such an awful way. Still, far more people than anyone would have imagined came to her funeral. It was a nice proceeding, and took place only a day or so after her death. Not surprisingly, her servant did not come, but the butler and the female vampire were both there, each one shedding tears for the woman they both admired. The news people just about went crazy asking questions, but aside from that, it was nice, nice as a funeral can be.

………………

Integra's eyes snapped open in the darkness. They were a chilling maroon, almost violet. She could no longer feel any heart beating above the ground. With preternatural strength, the drive to survive, she ripped through the wood of her coffin lid, through the dirt above. It closed around her and old human panic rose up as it clogged her nose and mouth, but she pushed the feelings away, wormed her way to the surface. Her hand, as soon as it broke through the grass roots was grasped and she was tugged from her grave, sputtering and spitting mud out of her mouth.

She gave a ragged gasp before pulling herself up and grasping at Alucard's lapels, off balance. His chill hands landed on her shoulders, gloveless, before he pulled her against his body and pressed a fierce kiss to her temple. She groaned and he knees went out form under her.

"Damn. I didn't think I'd become this weak. Alu-" Her voice cracked and she coughed. Eyes fluttering as Alucard held her up, she mumbled against his chest. "I'm so thirsty."

"I knew you would be, countess. I drank more than usual for the occasion, because I knew you wouldn't be able to hunt in this condition." He knelt and cradled her weak body against his chest, offering her his wrist. Eyes hooded, she brought the flesh to her lips, the smell of blood intoxicating her, and with sharp fangs bit into the veins there. Greedily guzzling, she was unaware of how Alucard watched her, smiling vaguely all the while. This fledgling was all he had ever wanted in a new vampire, a will to live and…

Suddenly he wrenched his away, and Integra turned to him, completely crimson eyes blazing with bloodlust.

…And a strong desire for bloodshed, a will of iron. Someone that could and would stand up to him. Seras was too human, too kindhearted for that. Integra, on the other hand…

She had pushed him down to the ground, and he let her pull his wrist back to her lips. "I still thirst Alucard." Came her low voice. He shivered with delight.

His unoccupied hand reached up to stroke her hair, dirty but still soft and silky against his fingers. With a soft plop she finally let his wrist drop, haughtily looking away, as if she had never tackled him to the ground, or straddled him to drink more blood. He simply laughed and pulled her back down, curling around her. She kissed at his throat, but didn't try to bite. He knew there was a small frown etched into her features, could feel it in the tenseness of her muscles.

"This is what vampires are made for, Integra, basking in our reprobation. We will live through history, until the Judgment day, you and I, and perhaps longer!" Still, she frowned, sat up, but held his hand loosely.

"Countess…."

"I'm sorry, Alucard, Just let me mourn my own death for a bit."

He frowned and brushed a twig from her hair. She was still, completely, twirling a piece of grass in her fingers, nearly curled in upon herself. The dress suit they had buried her in was streaked with dirt, and foliage was stuck in her hair. Blood was splattered across her cheeks, and her eyes were tired.

And yet, Alucard decided, she had never looked more beautiful. Tragic, but she looked full well the part of a vampire, full well the part of what he knew she could be. But she was still silent, and he leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers.

They were silent, save for the crush of leaves in the wind. Dawn was coming in a few hours, Alucard noted vaguely. Integra was as still and silent as she ad been before, but all at once, she stood up and smiled down at him.

She noticed how his eyes lit up, how his grin spread form one side of his face to the other, fangs glinting in the moonlight. She held out her hand. He reached his hand up, grasped hers, and she easily pulled him to his feet.

"Come Alucard." She whispered against his neck, arms encircling his waist. "Eternity waits."


	4. The Fourth Night's Disclosure

Sorry for the horrendous wait… Many apologies. But my mission trip that I went on was fabulous, and we did a lot of good stuff. Dominica is seriously the most beautiful place in the entire world… It's like, a tropical paradise! I miss it… D': Anyway… on to the story. :D It's short, but it's an update.

………………

Seras Victoria could count the worst days she'd ever had on one hand. Number two was when she realized she was a damned creature able to live only on human blood. Number one was when her world was thrust into chaos, when her Master killed his own master.

Today was worse. And also better. Paradoxical. She frowned, her forehead creasing deeply. Bloody vampires!!

It began as normal as the day –night- after the death of the Hellsing leader could begin. Seras woke shortly after sundown, found out that Integra was dead, and that the funereal was set for later the next day. She of course, was expected to attend, and she wasn't looking forward to it. Not only would she have to be up in the middle of the day, she'd have to wear twenty layers of clothes to avoid burning up. And the stares! She hated that.

But she had business to attend to. And so attend to it she did. She got things in order around the mansion, made sure clean clothes were sent to the morgue for Integra to be buried in, comforted Walter in a rare moment of vulnerability.

By day break, she was exhausted, and yet she could only sleep a few hours before she was expected to get up and go to a funereal. She crawled into her coffin, and it seemed only minutes later that Walter was there, waking her, with a full outfit all ready for her to wear.

She barely made it through the hours the funereal lasted, then she fell back into her coffin with relief.

And all too soon, her body woke up as the sun went down. Groggy, but knowing that work needed to be done, she rose, brushed her teeth, and dressed quickly. Pale cerulean eyes roaming over the stone walls, she almost ran into the wall instead of turning a corner, and found herself face to face with Walter. He looked as surprised as she felt.

"Oh, Miss Victoria. I was just coming to wake you."

She looked down. "Oh, thank you Walter. How are you today?" The question was asked with some caution, for she remembered his tears from the day before. He closed his eyes swiftly, and swallowed. She shyly rested a hand on his shoulder, almost missing his next words in the rustle of fabric.

"I just…" the whisper came. "I just can't believe that Alucard would do that. He is a monster, yes, but he is not without a sense of loyalty. I can't believe that he would kill her. And then, not allowing anyone to see the body. I just…. There's something not right, and I feel like the knights are covering something up."

"Walter… What do you mean? What would they have to gain?"

He slouched against the wall, a tribute to his mental exhaustion. "I don't know. She was scheduled to be executed anyway. Perhaps they wanted to bring Hellsing down with her, cast a smear on the good name by showing what her servants would do, could do, if not properly contained."

Seras bit her lip in consternation. If Hellsing were brought down, she would have nowhere to go, would be hunted down simply because she was a vampire, even if she had no urge to drink human blood.

"Hopefully," He said as he walked back towards the main halls. "Our fears will not be realized. I'll be going through records in the library if you need me."

"Ok." Her voice suddenly felt small in the echoing dungeons of the manor. Shivering, she trotted up the stairs to Integra's office. Someone needed to go through her desk and figure out what do with her notes on vampires, and her private ideas of what the different factions of the government were up to. Seras wasn't looking forward to it, but it had to be done.

Of course, she didn't expect Integra to be leaning back in her desk chair, feet placed firmly on a pile of official looking papers, cigar in her mouth, and her blue—no, her _crimson _eyes glowing in the dim radiance of twilight. So, she blinked once, backed out of the room, took a deep breath, and ordered herself to stop hallucinating.

She strode back into the room. Integra was still there.

"You're supposed to be dead." Seras said flatly.

Integra smirked. She stood, and seemed to melt into the shadows only to reappear feet from where Seras stood. "I'm not as dead as some would like to think."

Another voice echoed into the room. Her master's.

"And certainly you aren't as alive as others would wish, Integra." Shadows coiled up around Integra's feet, grew into a new form. Alucard smiled suddenly, scarlet eyes dancing with mischief.

"M-master!" Seras shivered. As soon as he had appeared, there had been a unbelievable pressure in the room, one that would not go away. Her ears felt like they needed to pop, her eyes like they were being squeezed. It took her a moment but she finally realized that the power came from Alucard.

"What-? I mean, what happened? You were dead, I was at the funereal!" Integra smiled once again and Seras was struck by how similar the two were. Not exactly in a physical way, but in the way they each held themselves, in their manner of ruthlessness they shared. And now, with Integra a… a vampire, they could have easily passed off as…

"As a Count and his Countess. Right, Police Girl?" Alucard looked at Integra with half lidded eyes, and let his hand, graceful and pale in the darkening light, brush her cheek, then down her neck.

And suddenly Seras realized why the room felt pressurized. Alucard's gloves, with their binding circles, were gone. He was _unbound!_ Seras swallowed with a dim growing panic. Alucard was so powerful, and without his binding, who knew what he would and could do? Who knew what Integra herself would do, given her already ruthless personality, coupled with the new vampiric strength of mind and body? Seras took an unwitting step back, eyes flicking from her Master to Integra.

"Don't worry Seras. I'm here strictly on business. Fetch Walter and we can get straight to it." Integra's voice held a sliver of kindness in it, putting Seras at ease. Well, as much ease as was possible in this situation.

"But-"

"That is an order from the leader of Hellsing. I can still terminate you."

Seras knew that Integra meant that she would fire her, but with Integra's eyes glowing crimson behind her waterfall of blonde hair, and her lips stretched thin over the teeth that were much sharper than they had been a day before, Seras didn't feel a need to argue with her.

She left the room quickly, with a single awed glance over her shoulder.

The door closed, and with a soft sigh Integra leaned against Alucard's chest, her arm slipping over one of his shoulders, the other wrapping around his waist. Chin lifted, she met his lips for a second before simply settling against him.

Alucard commented on it, his voice a soft rumble in the darkness. "You're very relaxed, Integra." He felt the tremor go through her body, a quick ripple of tenseness that almost could have been a flinch.

"I have nothing I need to prove to you now."

"Prove to me?" He let his head fall to the side, and gently grasped her chin, moving her face to see her eyes. He thought ephemerally that her blonde hair really accented the deep red of her eyes, and that is was quite enchanting, Then she was talking and no thought passed through his mind but what she was saying.

"I was a mere slip of a girl when I took over Hellsing, enchanted by tales of knights in shining armor, come to rescue the fair maiden. I learned quickly that I needed to be my own knight in order to survive. I was young and inexperienced, but I didn't want anyone to think that I couldn't handle the job, or that I was a pushover. And there you were." She broke out of his hold easily and pressed her lips to his throat. The urge to bite down rose, but she pushed it away.

"There you were, strong, unbreakable, every inch of you Draculine, the way my father had always told the tale. Not only experienced in, but entranced by the power plays I was new to. I didn't want you to see me only as a child, but as an equal."

He interrupted with a teasing smile. "Did you have a crush on me?" His hand brushed hers.

She snorted, but wound her fingers through his. "No. I was intimated by you, superhuman creature that you are, so I sought out to model myself after you, to make myself unbreakable, strong as iron. That way, I would be able to order you with ease, and if I could be that way to you, the rest of the human race would be a snap."

"I see." He lowered his eyes for a second, but then met hers again. "I never thought of you as a child."

Integra allowed herself a smirk of satisfaction. Alucard laughed, Adam's apple bobbing. She eyed it, distracted momentarily as her eyes traced from it down his jugular to his clavicle. Alucard could almost taste her thoughts, as strong as they were. A proper newborn's thoughts of blood, the overpowering need to drink. Everything Seras should have been but wasn't. His eyes slid closed as he stretched his chin towards the ceiling.

"Go ahead, Countess." He hummed in appreciation as her fangs scraped his skin, pierced through, and she began to drain his blood. The sounds of her suckling filled his ears; he could have laughed outright at their switch in roles. He now the one with the power, her subservient to him, and yet, more equal than they had ever been. His arms wrapped around her, pressing her closer as she stood on her tiptoes to get at a better angle.

It was this embrace that Walter, poked and prodded by a panicked Seras, walked into. And also the reason he promptly fainted.


End file.
